2025 NHL Draft lottery to take place May 5

As reported by Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli, the 2025 NHL Draft lottery will take place on May 5.

The 2025 NHL Draft will take place June 27-28 at the L.A. Live’s Peacock Theater. This is the first year of the NHL’s decentralized draft format, with only a handful of players expected to be in person. Teams will operate their draft plans from home to help avoid travel before the NHL free agent market opens on July 1.

The San Jose Sharks hold the best odds of landing the first overall pick, with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators closing out the top three. Teams can’t move up more than 10 spots in the draft order, meaning only 11 teams have a shot at the first overall pick. The lowest the Sharks, as the 32nd-place team in the NHL standings, can pick is third overall.

Teams can only win the draft lottery twice over a five-year period. San Jose won the lottery in 2024 and picked Macklin Celebrini, while Chicago moved up two spots to win the Connor Bedard sweepstakes the year before.

A full list of teams in the running to land the first overall pick can be found here.

Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer is considered the top prospect despite missing most of the season with an injury. Michael Misa, James Hagens and Porter Martone are among the other heavy hitters for the draft, with Caleb Desnoyers, Anton Frondell and Jackson Smith not too far behind. You can check out Daily Faceoff’s top 75 NHL Draft list from earlier this month here.

The final international tournament of the year involving 2025 NHL Draft prospects – the U-18 World Championship – is currently taking place in Texas. The quarterfinal is set for Wednesday, with Canada and the United States winning their respective groups in the round robin.

The NHL Draft Combine will take place June 1-7 at the LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, New York.

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